Peppermint
by R.F. Leed
Summary: Anna calls up Kristoff to ramble about a conversation she had with Elsa, while he tries to convince her that Elsa likes her, too. BrOTP Kristanna with implied Elsanna.


Anna had packed her bags in record time, and even gone so far as to check everything over multiple times in her excitement.

And when she said "record time," she meant _record time._ Nearly everything in her small dorm closet had been thrown, shoved, and compressed into one rather large suitcase, including eight different outfits (all aspects of which she could mix and match, of course, she wouldn't want to give off the impression that she wore _only_ those outfits), some dresses (though she doubted she would need those, what with it being ridiculously cold outside anyway, but she never knew what could come up), a few pairs of shoes, a pair of snow boots, and her sleep clothes—all tucked away within two hours of coming home.

It usually took her at least four days.

She did, however, take care to leave at least a few things in her closet. Mostly because it would still be a few days until it was time to leave. Finals and exams came beforehand, and she couldn't think of a better way to spend the time after than with Elsa and her family.

This year would be the year that Anna's parents go on their own vacation, as it was their twentieth wedding anniversary, and so she figured she would stay in the college dorms or maybe even head back to stay with Kristoff. As completely prepared as she was to do either of those things (and, honestly, relieved thaat she wasn't going to have to pack because no matter what she always forgot _something_ important), she was completely unprepared to be invited back to Elsa's home over break.

She expelled a dreamy sigh at the thought.

It was a simple enough conversation, if a little bit awkward on Elsa's end. Anna, however, had become so adept at reading Elsa's face and mannerisms that she deduced that it was less _awkward_ and more _nervous._ Nervous at what? Why be nervous around Anna? Clumsy, rambly Anna who only had a massive crush on the platinum blonde, icy blue eyed eighth Wonder of the World.

She had said yes, of course, otherwise she wouldn't be packing now.

They had been heading to their local Starbucks in between classes, and the topic of that particular conversation wound up being holiday plans. Anna remembered it clearly—who _wouldn't_ remember a gorgeous girl asking if she wanted to come home with her?—and, if she were to be honest with herself, had mulled over the memory as often as she could on her walk home.

Anna had to call up Kristoff afterwards, the copper headed girl grinning almost madly to herself as she waited for him to pick up.

"You'll never guess what just happened," was the first thing that tumbled out of pink lips.

There was some shuffling on the other end of the line. "That's not how you greet a man you woke from a nap."

Anna's lips pursed, and she rolled her eyes. "Hi. Good morning," she deadpanned, "I'd ask you how your nap was, but there's something super important and super exciting that'll even have _you_ feeling Christmas cheer!"

"I have Christmas cheer!" he said, defensive. "I even dressed Sven up as a reindeer last year! What's the news?"

She was bouncing on the balls of her feet now, one hand balled into a fist as she tried to contain her squeals. "Guess where I'm staying for half of holiday break!"

"With any of my luck, it'll be far from me, if you're going to squeal like that."

When he didn't receive a response, he figured he had said the wrong thing, and sighed. "C'mon, Anna, you know I didn't mean that." Still silence. "Anna?"

The redhead couldn't hold it in any longer, and let out another excited squeal. "Lady Luck be on your side tonight, Kristoff, because I'm not going home!" She was dancing with air at this point, humming to herself some classic Christmas songs.

"What? No way."

"Yes way!" Anna was laughing now, feeling her freckled cheeks flush. "You'll never guess where."

The blond man on the other end snorted. "Next thing you'll tell me is that Elsa invited you over."

The silence told him everything.

"No. Way."

"YES WAY!"

"What? I thought you were coming back to stay with me and Sven."

Anna heard him call for the dog—probably to eat, judging by the clattering sound of what she assumed was dry dog food hitting a bowl—and waited for her friend to return his phone to his ear. "I was, and I'm sososo sorry for canceling on you last minute, but, my God, Kristoff, you should have been there for it." She sighed again, and didn't even bother to stop the giggles that bubbled out of her.

"Something tells me the conversation wouldn't have happened if I was there."

"Oh, hush, let me tell my story." At his hum of approval, she let all of the things she'd been wanting to say finally out. "God, she's so adorable, Kris. She's so—she's so, I don't even know what to use to describe her, but my _God_ I don't know if I'll be able to handle two weeks! We were walking back from class, right, y'know, just two friends—"

"Two friends that have _massive_ crushes on each other."

"Oh, hush! You're just saying that to make me feel better." Anna heard him sigh and take in a breath to refute her point—he always did when she would say something self-deprecating, he was a good friend like that—but she bulldozed forward before he could because wow he needed to hear this. "_Anyway, _we were walking back, right? I was all, 'Oh, it's really cold out,' and so she was like, 'There's a Starbucks up the street, I could get something warm for you for the way back,' and, Kristoff, can you believe that? She offered to buy me a drink!"

"Did you let her?"

"I mean, I was just saying, like, 'No, it's okay, I'd feel bad if you spent more money on me,' all cool and everything—" He laughed at her there. "—and she was all, 'No, it's okay, Anna. You're cold, I just saw you shiver. Let me get you something,' and so _I_ was all, 'That's very sweet of you, Elsa, thank you,' and of course I didn't say it like _that_ because you know me and how terrible I am with words. I probably tripped over them like ten times, but who cares because _wow she noticed me shiver_. Can you believe that? She was paying enough attention to me that she _noticed me shiver!_"

"Anyway," Anna continued, despite Kristoff telling Sven how was such a good boy, she knew he was listening, "She was all, 'Oh, what do you want?' and I was like—wait, you know how I always tell you she smells a little bit like peppermint and told me she really likes candy canes? I'm so proud of myself for this, Kristoff, and you'll be _so proud_ of me when you hear it—I was like, _'I've always w__anted some peppermint in my drink._'"

All went silent on the other end. And then,

"Anna."

Her lower lip got caught between her teeth, "Yeah?"

"Anna, you _flirted with her._"

"I know."

There was a sniffle from Kristoff's end. "I'm so proud of you."

"I knew you would be."

"I'll buy you a drink, I'm so proud of you."

"Admit it, you like their drinks, too, and you're just using me as an excuse," and she knew the denial was coming, so she rolled her eyes and pushed forward with her story, "And so she, like, cleared her throat and was all, 'We're here, so I guess I'll get you a peppermint mocha?' and I was all, 'Yeah, sounds good,' and I thought I'd done something terrible, right? I thought I'd scared her off, but no! Kristoff, she was. Bright. Red."

"No way."

"Yes way."

"What else?"

"So, she came back and handed me mine, and when I took a sip, by the way you should totally have one of those, they're super good, she was all, 'I hope you like peppermint as much as I do,' And so I was like, 'Yeah, it's really good. I wish there were other places I could taste it,' and she..." Anna had to take in a breath, suddenly feeling blood rush up to her cheeks, "She was all, _'I happen to have peppermint on me all the time.'_"

Kristoff had to take a moment. "She was flirting back."

"What? No," though Anna blushed even harder at the thought, and she knew he was right. Elsa? Flirting with her? She doubted it was anything more than friendly, but she secretly hoped it was more.

"No, Anna, she was _totally flirting back_."

"Well, we were quiet for a little bit after that. She asked me if I was any warmer and I, um, I couldn't stop the word vomit when I thanked her for, um, warming me up." Anna heard Kristoff's snickers. "It was a little while after that she asked me what I was doing for the holidays, and I told her I'd probably stay here if you weren't okay with having me over since my parents were going on their vacation—and before you say it, I know that Pabbie and Bulda would be more than happy to have me over, but even I know how hectic it is around your house during the holidays, especially with all your extended family coming over!"

"She kind of was quiet for a little bit longer, and then she looked at me with those gorgeous eyes, and was like, 'My godparents told me the other night that they'd like to see you again, if you're not busy.'"

"She's been talking about you!" Kristoff exclaimed with such gusto that Anna had to wonder if he was more excited about the situation than she was. "Anna, she's been talking about you to her godparents!"

Anna only scoffed, but she did let a small smile cross her face. "I mean, she was probably only telling them about how clumsy I am, not anything important." But, wow, did she hope that Elsa had been talking more about that. The implications of the older girl talking about her wasn't lost to her.

"Oh, Anna," Kristoff sighed. "Is it really that hard to believe that she could, I don't know, like you back?"

His heart broke at her answer. "Well... yeah. I'm just me."

"You might be 'just you,' but obviously 'just you' is more than enough for her, and there's nothing wrong with 'just you' anyway! There's only one Anna Summers in the world, and there's a girl who has her eyes only on her."

"You're just saying that," Anna shrugged. "But I told her yes, I'd be happy to go up with her. You should have seen the smile on her face, Kris. She was glowing."

"That smile was because of _you._"

She sighed then, laying back on her mattress. "We don't even know if she likes me as more than a friend."

"Hey, you're talking to the child of love experts. I'd like to think I know what I'm talking about." Kristoff chuckled, and then added, "You're Anna Summers. You broke your arm when you were eight and made such a big fuss over not being able to do anything that we went behind your parents' backs and climbed a bunch of trees in the middle of the night..."

"Only for me to fall and break my other arm," Anna shook her head at her younger self, smiling all the while.

"You were so insistent on climbing more trees that we snuck out and did it again."

"Are you making fun of me to cheer me up?"

She could hear the smile in Kristoff's voice when he spoke again. "All I'm saying is that you're stubborn enough to go after what you want despite everything else. You make her happy, Anna."

"You really think so?"

"I _know_ so. I've seen her smiling to herself in class, and believe me when I say that nobody smiles when Weselton is going on about business."

"Well," Anna struggled for words, if only to get rid of any other possibilities, "how do you know she's not smiling because of anything else? How can you know that's from _me?_"

"You walk her to that class, Anna. She doesn't talk to anybody else."

There was a heavy silence between them.

Kristoff broke it, "You have two weeks together. Go get your girl."

She would.

* * *

><p>An excerpt of a college AU I've been toying around with, simply trying to learn the ropes and character mannerisms. Constructive criticism is welcome, as it's my first attempt at these characters.<p> 


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